Adjunct Orientations Take Hold

Mesa Community College

At Mesa Community College, in Arizona, part of adjunct orientation involves a team-building exercise in which groups of instructors build structures out of marshmallows and toothpicks, with the goal of constructing the tallest one that can stand on its own.

By Audrey Williams June

Ellen Belluomini, an adjunct faculty member at National Louis
University, never participated in a campuswide orientation before
she first set foot in a classroom at the Chicago institution nearly
two decades ago.

That's because National Louis didn't have one—until last year,
after Ms. Belluomini and a colleague created an online course to
help adjuncts acclimate to their jobs. The university, like a
growing number of colleges, says it now views adjunct orientation
as a critical